ClickOnce deplyment

[bede]

I am having some major issues with Clickonce and would like a wee bit
of advice.

I cannot create a clickonce package as I will not know which web
server the application will be launched from until the last minute.
I need to wrap up my click once application, place it onto a memory
stick or cd. I then need to somehow tell this deployment that it needs
to be deployed on "whatever.com" and make changes to the app.config
file.

For the life of me I cannot figure this out.

Any Ideas anyone ?

 

[RobinS]

You can deploy your ClickOnce package to a local file server, or your
memory stick, or wherever.

Then when you are ready to actually deploy it somewhere and use it, use the
MageUI.exe tool that is included in Visual Studio (I had to search
C:\ProgramFiles\VisualStudio... to find it) to edit the deployment manifest
which is called something like MyAppName.application. Look under the
"Deployment Options" tab. The Start Location is the url of the web server.
This will allow you to modify the web server (and a bunch of other stuff,
but be careful).

Then just copy the files to your deployment server, via FTP or just copy
them if you have that kind of access.

I don't know what changes you need to make to the app.config file; that is
a separate issue from the ClickOnce deployment issue.

Good luck.
Robin S.

 

[bede]

Thanks but there is a problem with that.

The person doing the install is not going to be aware of the location
of deployment till the last minute.

They will be off-site and will not have access to this tool. Most
people who do the installs are not techies anyways.

In my opinion this clickonce stuff only seems suitable in a local
intranet where the developers know everything in advance.

It is so frustrating.
All the documentation seems to cover the basics only.

 

[RobinS]

One of the bedrock issues that ClickOnce deals with is security, and making
sure that when you deploy something from a website, it doesn't get copied
somewhere else or diverted -- the manifest must match.

You can give people access to MageUI.exe; they don't have to have Visual
Studio to use it. And it's not horribly technical. They can run it, point
it at the manifest, change the one field, and then copy or ftp the files.

My company is using ClickOnce to publish their product to the public, so I
disagree with your assessment of it only being applicable on the local
intranet. You might check out Brian Noyes' book about ClickOnce
Deployment -- it is exceptional, and covers pretty much everything.

Good luck.
Robin S.